


Bad Thoughts-part 2

by detectivejigsaw



Series: Old Man Angst [12]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, Gen, Guilty Ford Pines, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Weirdmageddon, So much angst, Soos is a good son to Stan, Sort Of, Stan is still getting his memories back, including the not so good ones, references to suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26524297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivejigsaw/pseuds/detectivejigsaw
Summary: Getting Stan's memories back isn't all fine and dandy.Some of them were really...not good.And one day, Ford finds out from Soos the extent to how "not good" some of them were.Warning: implied suicidal thoughts/themes/ideation.Sequel to "Bad Thoughts," an earlier story in my "Old Man Angst" series.
Relationships: Ford Pines & Stan Pines, Jesus "Soos" Alzamirano Ramirez & Ford Pines, Jesus "Soos" Alzamirano Ramirez & Stan Pines
Series: Old Man Angst [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1433122
Comments: 19
Kudos: 126





	Bad Thoughts-part 2

Some of Stan’s less pleasant memories had come back today.

Specifically ones related to the years when he was running the Mystery Shack more or less alone, while working frantically on the portal by night.

How he’d spent thirty _years_ working on this, with no way of knowing if he’d ever succeed, or if his brother was even alive.

He’d tried to play it off, assuring Ford and the kids that he was fine, but the eldest Pines twin had finally made the executive decision that they needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air so that if nothing else, he’d be able to process the memories without being completely consumed by them.

After some discussion the group decided to go to the lake; it was no longer fishing season, but still a nice place to hang out, and maybe they could try catching a glimpse of the real Gobblewonker. They had just gotten in the car when Dipper realized that they had once again forgotten sunscreen.

“There’s a bottle of it in the bathroom, I’ll go get it.” He started to unbuckle his seatbelt.

“No, it’s all right, Dipper.” Ford was closer to the house, so it seemed only fair for him to be the retriever, so to speak.

He didn’t expect, when he stepped inside and glanced into the living room, to see Soos pulling a sizable handgun out from underneath Stan’s large yellow armchair and stuffing it into a backpack.

* * *

“What the devil?!”

Soos jumped, with a very undignified squeaking noise, and nearly dropped the gun, so for a very horrifying moment Ford thought it was going to land and end up shooting someone like in _Il Forza del Destino_. Fortunately, though, Soos managed to catch it, and immediately shoved it into the bag.

“Hi Other Mr. Pines! Nothing! I’m not doing anything suspicious!”

Ford stepped all the way into the living room and folded his arms, while wearing his most interrogatory expression.

“Soos, why did you bring a gun into this house?”

“I didn’t!”

Ford let a skeptical eyebrow rise up towards his hairline.

“I _didn’t_!” Soos protested. “It’s not even mine! And neither are the others!”

“Others?!”

“Yeah dude, I got like ten of ‘em in here-!” Soos squeaked again, clamped a hand over his mouth.

“ _SOOS_. Tell me right now why you have ten guns in that backpack and where they came from!”

“...They’re Mr. Pines’s, okay?!”

For a moment the living room was dead silent.

At last Ford picked one of the _multiple_ questions now racing through his brain, and asked slowly, “Why are you feeling the need to collect all of Stanley’s guns?”

 _Why does he even_ have _ten guns?!_

“...Um. I-um.” Soos rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, in a way that bore a startling resemblance to Stan.

“I’m not angry,” Ford finally thought to reassure him as he knelt down until he was able to meet his eyes better. “I just want to understand.”

“...He’s been remembering some not-so-happy stuff today,” Soos mumbled. “And, um...when Mr. Pines gets low...sometimes he worries me.”

Ford was beginning to get a dreadful picture in his mind’s eye of the situation. He just didn’t want to believe it.

Soos began talking more freely now, like he was finding it a relief to speak.

“Um. There-there was this one time when I was fifteen, and I was finished up with work for the day so I went to tell him, and I found him sittin’ at his desk, just starin’ at a gun in his hand. And he said it was just for thinkin’ about, y’know, an exhibit, but my mom-” his eyes darted towards the floor- “um, never mind, you don’t wanna know about that. The thing is, it...didn’t look good. And I just...don’t ever wanna see him...like that again.”

He swallowed, and looked down at the backpack. “I know this was probably a dumb idea and I’m overreacting, but I didn’t know what else-”

Ford interrupted him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I think this was a very good idea, Soos.”

Soos smiled at him shyly.

* * *

They ended up putting the guns in the basement for the time being; Stan barely went down there anymore, so it seemed like the safest bet. Then Ford finally remembered why he’d come inside in the first place, and went to the bathroom to grab the sunscreen.

When he stepped back outside, Stan was leaning against his door and looked like he was about to come marching inside to see what the holdup was.

“About time!” he griped as Ford marched towards him. “What, ya decide to make yourself a sandwich or someth-oof!”

His arms floundered about in the air for a second, before settling around Ford.

“Um...Ford?”

He didn’t feel like trying to explain; not right now, with the kids within earshot. He just held onto Stan a little tighter for a second, before pulling back and rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“Let’s go to the lake.”

**Author's Note:**

> Needless to say, both children are very confused by this. But Mabel is definitely not complaining about the moment of spontaneous hugging, even if it delays them for a little bit.
> 
> Ford tells Stan, during a moment when they're alone, that he's still processing how much pain he went through over the last forty years, and just needed a moment to express it; Stan is still confused, but like Mabel, he's not complaining about the affection.
> 
> And during a spare moment, Ford asks Soos if he might learn more about his slice of infinite pizza, and while he's doing that he ends up telling him about one of his adventures in the multiverse, in a dimension where there was actually an element called "pizzazium." Soos is disappointed to learn that no, that is not a "pizza element," despite how it sounds, but he's mollified when he learns it can be used to create hovercrafts.


End file.
